Barron’s – Market View

The first half of July saw the S&P 500 get to and stay above the 2,960 level, move through 3,000 and make several more new all-time highs. The platform for further advance that we spoke of is under construction. The NASDAQ and Dow Industrials also caught up and made their own new all-time highs. The advance/decline line and upside/downside volume indicators remain very positive. Sentiment is getting slightly more positive (the latest AAII and Investors Intelligence figures are showing modest increases in bullish outlooks, and put/call ratios are declining) but the bullish “wall of worry” is still well in place. As the summer proceeds, the evidence that the bears use to make a case that New York is nearing a major top is getting thinner and thinner. This remains a powerful bull market that wants to go higher.